Ryan Reynolds has been in the headlines for antics surrounding his football club rather than his acting career over the past week, with Wrexham winning a thrilling and crucial top-of-the-table battle on Monday thanks to a late Ben Foster penalty save.
The Canadian and his American co-owner Rob McElhenney took in the crazy scenes and expressed surprise at the “insane” rules which only see one side promoted from the National League into the football league system - though that now looks set to be the Red Dragons, with that victory over Notts County leaving them three points clear with a game in hand and only four matches remaining.
Come the end of the week, though, Reynolds had other off-pitch matters on his mind: McElhenney’s birthday on 14 April and a special video tribute...sort of.
While they may share a football club, it doesn’t stop the pair playing jokes on each other at every opportunity and Reynolds took his friend’s celebrations as an opportunity to educate listeners on exactly how to pronounce “McElhenney”.
Not content with being in the birthday video himself, Reynolds also enlisted a number of actors, Wrexham fans, locals and even club staff to also appear in the video - including a particularly gruff sign-off from one.
Settings such as the club stadium - the Racecourse Ground - and noted local bar The Turf appear in the video, the latter being the site of a recent singalong for supporters which the owners turned up to after the win over Notts County.
The cheeky lyrics see Reynolds noting that “all those Ns and Es and Hs can perplex ‘em” for people trying to pronounce Rob McElhenney’s surname, so his thoughtful friend created a handy guide to doing so “from all your mates in Wrexham”.
Finishing up with a “2-1” score update in the joking stakes between the pair and posting the clip to Twitter, Reynolds also encouraged Wrexham fans to take up the chant on matchdays just to get in on the act against McElhenney. If they go on to earn promotion and return to League Two, supporters will doubtless be singing plenty more than just a birthday song in praise of their owners.
